The Evolution of Zhu (Concept)

When I first came up with the setting that Empress Li Hua lived in, it was more or less just a means to an end.  It was little more than "here's a place where they do martial arts" but soon after I decided to really look at it and began to take inspiration from things like Jade empire and kung fu flicks to slowly but surely add on to it.  It was a large island on some world that was vaguely described, but really outside of the fact that it had the standard martial arts mystic power going on it was basically just another china stand in.  That didn't really change until I started to change the Empress herself, feeling no need to even hold on to former limitations.

The Zhu people became their own distinct species, with various races of their own as well as a fleshed out origin and explanation for their similarity to humanity.  The island of Zhu Shang Qiao ceased to be their whole nation and was changed to be merely the capitol kingdom of a much larger Empire.  That Empire itself fitting into my new way of handling things as it went from a straight fantasy setting into what I'd consider an even mix of fantasy and science fiction.  Zhu retained their mostly magical roots but now they were part of a larger universe filled with races and groups of all tech magic levels.  As time went on it progressed more and more into it's current state the people and Empire they live in no longer being just a place to have martial arts fights and a unique world all their own with those inspirations and the concept of chi merely a fundamental building block instead of the entire thing.